Toy vehicle having simulated headlights with on-off control

ABSTRACT

A member having headlight beam simulating indicia, such as white paint, is slidably mounted in a toy vehicle having headlight fixture simulating apertures whereby the headlights of the vehicles may be &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;turned-on&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; by moving the member so as to expose the headlight beam simulating indicia in the headlight fixture simulating apertures.

United States Patent [72] inventor Paul Tam Los Angeles Cam. [56]References Cited [2]] Appl. No 17,1) UNlTED STATES PATENTS [22] FiledMar. 6, 1970 3,099,243 7/1963 Schwartz et al 46/202 X [45] Patented July27, 1971 3,107,453 10/1963 Balthazor l 46/221 {73] Assignee Mattel, Inc.3,181,271 5/1965 Withams 46/202 Hawthorne c Primary Examiner-Louis G.Mancene Assistant Examiner-Robert F. Cutting s41 TOY VEHICLE HAVINGSIMULATED HEADLIGHTS WITH ON-OFF CONTROL I ABSTRACT: A member havingheadlight beam simulating in- [52] US. Cl 46/202, dicia, such as whitepaint, is slidably mounted in a toy vehicle 46/221 having headlightfixture simulating apertures whereby the [5 l Int. Cl ..A63h 17/26headlights of the vehicles may be tumed-on by moving the Field of Search46/202, member so as to expose the headlight beam simulating indicia 221223, 222, 230 in the headlight fixture simulating apertures I 7.9 9; 4:65 68 I I I I 11. 62 8955 1 l 4; 77 I 1 I 47 8 I I; 7! 1 2 g l I I l Ias 17 1: 19 a1 59 17 1! TOY VEHICLE HAVING SIMULATED HEADLIG HTS WITHON-OFF CONTROL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The background of theinvention will be set forth in'two parts.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains generally tothe field of toy vehicles and more particularly to toy vehicles havingsimulated headlights.

2. Description of the Prior Art Toy vehicle constructions which employmeans to simulate realistic counterparts of actual devices, vehicles,accessories, animals or human beings hold much more attraction forchildren and even adults than toys which are not. Accordingly, it isgenerallyfound that. the more closely a toy vehicle resembles an actualautomobileor truck, the greater will be the demand for the toy.

However, there have been found to be problems in manufacturing realisticscale toys, especially where the toys are very small. Such is the casein providing miniature cars and trucks with simulated headlights. In thelarger toys, battery operated flashlight bulbs have been used with anappropriate on-off switch to provide thedesired effect. But there isinsufficient space available in miniature toys to house even the lightbulbs. Also, there is further the advantage of higher costs ofmanufacture and less reliability in that bulbs filaments tend to breakunder the high impact generally imposed on such toys in use. Thus, ithas been the trend in the industry to manufacture vehicle toys withsimulated headlights which cannot be turned on or off.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing factors and conditionscharacteristic of-miniature toy cars and trucks, it is a primary objectof the present invention to provide a toy vehicle having simulatedheadlights with on-off control.

ltis also an object of the present invention to provide a toy vehiclewith simulated headlight apertures whereat simulated headlight beams aremade to appear and disappear.

It is another object of this invention to provide a toy vehicle withcontrolled simulated headlights which are readily operably by its user.7

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a verysimple and reliable technique to control simulated headlights for toyvehicles. I j

According to the present invention, a toy vehicle is provided havingsimulated headlights with on-off control including a toy vehicle bodywith suspension and wheel assemblies, the body also including headlightsimulating apertures. Movably mounted in the body is simulated headlightmeans including headlight beam indicia registerable with the aperturesfor simulating the headlights being turned on by moving the headlightmeans to expose the headlight beam indicia in the apertures.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The presentinvention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and ad vantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to likeelements in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a toyvehicle incorporating simulated headlights in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the toy vehicle of FIG. 1showing the simulated headlight control in its off" position; i.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of FIG. 2 showing thesimulated headlight control in its on position;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional representation of FIG. 2 taken along line4-4; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional representation taken along line 55 of FIG.2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawingand more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a toy vehicleconstituting a presently preferred embodiment of the invention,generally designated 11. The vehicle includes a suspension assembly 13with four ground wheels 15 rotatably mounted on axles 17 held in placeby a suspension plate 19.

Positioned below the suspension assembly 13 is a lower body member orchassis 21 having a peripheral lip portion 23 with wheel well indentures25 and axle clearance notches 27. Thechassis 21 also includes a lippedaperture 29 and an upstanding post 31 forward thereof.

Mounted on. the upper side of the suspension assembly 13 is an upperbody unit 33. The body unit includes a pair of headlight fixtureapertures 35, a large cockpit aperture 37, a rectangular enginecompartment aperture 39, and a forwardly disposed depending post 41.Within the cockpit area of the vehicle 11 is situated a simulatedinterior member 43 including a backrest 45, a floor 47 and a notchedguideway 49 in which is s'lidably positioned a slide member 51.

- The slide member 51 includes a generally centrally disposed Ielongated aperture 53, a control notch portion 55 at one of its ends,and a pair of spaced raised portions 57 adjacent the other end of themember 51. Each of the raised portions 57 is provided with headlightbeam indicia which for example may take the form of painted white oryellow surfaces 59 with adjacent surfaces 61 having the same color asthat of an enclosing body section 63.

The body section 63 may resemble a sports car as shown with fender areas65, a cockpit opening 67 and a recessed engine compartment 68 with anaperture 69. It may also be fabricated as a replica of any'manufacturedautomobile or truck or as an original design. In any case, it willinclude headlight simulating apertures 71 disposed to be registerablewith the headlight beam indicia 59 and the adjacent surface area 61ofthe slide member 51.

The toy is assembled as indicated by the dashed lines in FIG. 1. In thismanner, the upstanding post 31 of the chassis 21 is positioned through acentrally located circular aperture 73 in the suspension plate 19 andflattened by pressure or heat or both to form a rivet-type head 75.Subsequently, a post 77 depending from a member 79 simulated engine isplaced through the engine aperture 69 in the body 63, through arelatively large aperture 80 in the suspension plate 19, and through thelipped aperture 29 of the chassis 21. Similarly, a forwardly positionedpost 81 depending from the underside of the body section 63 passesthrough the elongated aperture 53 in the slide member 51 and through araised-lipped aperture 83 in the chassis 21. The ends of both of theseposts 77 and 81 are then flattened by conventional means to providerivet-type assembly retaining heads 85 and 87, respectively. Of course,other methods of maintaining the relative positions of the variousassembled portions of the toy may be employed, depending on suchcircumstances as the size of the toy and the materials used.Furthermore, a window member 89 having locating tabs 91 to register withseats 93 in the interior member 43, may be disposed between the bodysection 63 and the interior 43.

In operation, the slide member 51 is moved by means of an operatorplacing the end of a finger through the cockpit opening 67 and into thenotched portion 55 to push the member 51 in a rearward direction asindicated by arrow 95 to only expose the surfaces 61 in the apertures 71as seen in FIG. 2, or to push the member 51 in a forward direction asindicated by arrow 97 to only expose the headlight beam indicia 59 inthe headlight simulating apertures 71 as shown in FIG. 3.

It can therefore be seen that by simply manually moving the 3 can beturned off and on as desiredIThe views shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 arepresented to aid in identifying the various portions of the toy and thefunctions pf each as it is. affected by the movement of the member 51 asshown by arrows 99. Thus in FIG. 5, the surface 61 is shown exposed inthe aperture 71 while the beam indicia portions 59 are hidden under thebody section 63. As noted previously, this is the of position of thecontrol or slide member 51 and the surface 61 may be either paintedblack or other dark color, or may be of the same color as that of theouter surface of the body section 63. In either case, the extent oftravel possible by the slide member is restricted by the position of thepost 8] in the clongatcd slot 53.

Accordingly, it should be evident from the foregoing that there has beendescribed an extremely simple and reliable yet novel and useful toyvehicle having simulated headlights with on and off control.

It is to be further pointed out that the materials used in fabricatingthe invention are not critical and any material generally known to besuitable for the-application desired may be utilized. For example, thevarious members making up the toy vehicle assembly may be metal or asynthetic or any combination of these.

This invention has been described in its presently preferred embodimentand it should be clear thatit is susceptible to numerous modificationsand embodiments within the skill of the routine engineer and without theexercise of the inventive faculty. For example, the headlight beamindicia may be of a fluorescent material which, after being exposed tolight, will glow in the dark.

Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing disclosure and drawingsshall be considered only as illustrations of the principles of thisinvention and are not to be construed in a limiting sense.

What I claim is: I

l. A toy vehicle having simulated headlights with on-off control,comprising:

a toy vehicle body including suspension and wheel assemblies, said bodyalso including headlight simulating apertures;

simulated-headlight means movably mounted in said body, said meansincluding headlight beam indicia registerable with said apertures forsimulating the headlights being turned on by exposing said headlightbeam indicia in said apertures only when said headlight means is movedto an appropriate position.

2. A toy vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said headlight meansincludes a slide member with spaced colored sections adjacent andregisterable with said headlight simulating apertures, each of saidsections having headlight beam indicia portions and adjacent differentlycolored portions.

3..A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said slide member ismanually operable.

4. A toy vehicle according to claim 3, wherein said toy vehicle bodyincludes a cockpit opening and wherein said slide member includes anotched control portion accessible for manual operation through saidcockpit opening.

5. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said adjacent portionshave a color similar to that of said toy vehicle body adjacent saidheadlight simulating apertures.

6. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said adjacent portionshave a dark color.

7. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said headlight beamindicia portions are colored white.

8. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said headlight beamindicia portions are colored yellow.

9. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said headlight beamindicia portions are fluorescent.

10. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said slide member alsoincludes an elongated slot, and wherein said toy vehicle body includes avertical post extending through said elongated slot to limit the extentof that of said slide member.

1. A toy vehicle having simulated headlights with on-off control,comprising: a toy vehicle body including suspension and wheelassemblies, said body also including headlight simulating apertures;simulated headlight means movably mounted in said body, said meansincluding headlight beam indicia registerable with said apertures forsimulating the headlights being turned on by exposing said headlightbeam indicia in said apertures only when said headlight means is movedto an appropriate position.
 2. A toy vehicle according to claim 1,wherein said headlight means includes a slide member with spaced coloredsections adjacent and registerable with said headlight simulatingapertures, each of said sections having headlight beam indicia portionsand adjacent differently colored portions.
 3. A toy vehicle according toclaim 2, wherein said slide member is manually operable.
 4. A toyvehicle according to claim 3, wherein said toy vehicle body includes acockpit opening and wherein said slide member includes a notched controlportion accessible for manual operation through said cockpit opening. 5.A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said adjacent portions havea color similar to that of said toy vehicle body adjacent said headlightsimulating apertures.
 6. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, whereinsaid adjacent portions have a dark color.
 7. A toy vehicle according toclaim 2, wherein said headlight beam indicia portions are colored white.8. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said headlight beamindicia portions are colored yellow.
 9. A toy vehicle according to claim2, wherein said headlight beam indicia portions are fluorescent.
 10. Atoy vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said slide member alsoincludes an elongated slot, and wherein said toy vehicle body includes avertical post extending through said elongated slot to limit the extentof that of said slide member.